TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that Tehran is seriously after expanding cooperation with its neighboring countries, as enshrined in its foreign policy.

“Stability and security of the countries of the region is interwoven, and we advocate that a sense of moderation, brotherhood, wisdom, and prescience prevails over relations between countries,” Rouhani said in a Saturday meeting with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the 5th Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in the Tajik capital city of Dushanbe.

“Bilateral and multilateral dialogue and increasing of cooperation is the only approach to settle differences and solve regional issues. And Iran is always ready to participate in this field,” the Irainan head of state underlined.

Friendly ties between Iran and Qatar benefits all the region, he said, adding that both countries have great potentials to enhance bilateral economic ties.

The Qatari monarch, for his part in the meeting, said that Doha believes that dialogue, collective cooperation, and political approach can solve all regional differences.

He added that Qatar is ready to expand ties with Iran in all fields of mutual interest.

Last month, Chairman of Iran-Qatar Chamber of Commerce Adnan Mousapour announced that trade between the two countries is being followed in a normal status, absolutely unaffected by pressures from the US and some regional states.

Mousapour said on May 28, "Despite the international pressure on Qatar, the two sides have always been determined to continue their trade relationship as far as they could and through many efforts have been made over the past few days all the problems have been resolved."

He added that trade restrictions with Qatar have been removed and now there is no particular problem in trade relations between the two countries.

Mousapour went on saying that "accordingly, exports are carried out in all areas except for iron and copper, petroleum derivatives, and oil, gas and chemicals”.

"Over the past days, there were restrictions on all sectors apart from clothing and food, which have now all been removed," he stressed.

Late in February, a leading newspaper in the UAE said Washington is fearful of the growing relations between Iran and Qatar, claiming that Qatar's all-out support and financial aid to Iran have weakened Washington's attempts to sanction Tehran.

The Arabic-language al-Ittihad newspaper quoted the US foreign policy experts as saying that the policy-makers in the White House are analyzing Doha's behavior which indicates that undoubtedly Qatar is showing more tendency towards Iran rather than standing beside Washington.

They added that Iran has made success in persuading Qatar to join the agreements which bypass the US sanctions.

The newspaper also referred to the recent remarks by US analyst Michael Jones who said, "Although Qatar has not declared its position to support Iran clearly and officially, the Americans are well aware that Qatar enjoys very close ties with Iran."

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar in early June 2017 over charges that it supports terrorism. They have accordingly imposed a land, sea and air blockade against Qatar thus leaving only a sea and air corridor open with Iran.

This created a rise in Iran’s exports – particularly fruits and vegetables – to Qatar. Iran has also become a corridor for exports of other countries to the blockaded Persian Gulf state.

A customs report said last June that Iran had exported 216.585 tons of goods worth $47.666 million to Qatar from March 21, 2018 to May 21, 2018, showing a considerable growth in terms of value.

"Iran's export to Qatar increased five-fold times as compared with last year's corresponding period," the latest statistics of Iran's Customs Administration on foreign trade showed.

It noted that the amount of Iran’s exports to Qatar during that period of time compared to the same period last year had been increased by 64 percent and 435 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Supreme Council of Economic Coordination decided to extend the authority of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for managing the exchange market for the purpose of stability in the foreign currency market.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Minister of Industry Reza Rahmani announced that his country is planning to lower the imports of machinery and equipment used in major production lines, in a bid to further indigenize manufacturing capabilities in the face of the US sanctions.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Two other Iranian Taekwondo fighters managed to grab gold medals at the 2019 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 2 in Japan where their compatriot Mirhashem Hosseini had already won a gold medal on day one.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Palestinian resistance forces shot down another Israeli drone in the Gaza Strip, the third unmanned aerial vehicle the regime has lost over the recent days in the besieged enclave and Lebanon.